There’s a new name in mobile telcos for customers to choose from, and by new, we mean old, and yet new, and yet still old again.
One of Australia’s biggest e-tailers — Kogan — is re-joining the world of mobile telecommunications delivery after ending its service back in 2013, doing so this time by partnering with Vodafone to push out 3G access to anyone looking for a cost cutting mobile service in Australia.
“Kogan Mobile is back, and it’s better than ever. We’re here to do what we always do — cut out the middlemen and save smart shoppers some hard-earned money,” said David Shafer, Executive Director of Kogan Mobile.
“We continue to receive streams of messages from fans asking when Kogan Mobile is coming back. We knew we had to give customers what they were asking for.”
From this week, the service is back, bringing with it budget pricing and a tri-fold SIM, offering a SIM that can work in pretty much any phone found in the past seven years.
Mobile packages are set in one of two tiers — 3GB and extra large (3XL) or 5GB and extra large (5XL) — with these offering pretty much the same service and the pricing changing based on how long you’re ordering the service for.
For instance, while both the 3XL and 5XL plans offer unlimited standard national talk, text, and MMS, a 30 day plan will cost $29.95 or $36.95 respectively, while 90 days will cost $79.95 and $99.95 respectively.
One year plans are also possible on Kogan Mobile, with 365 days of the 3XL plan costing $299.95, while 365 days of 5XL asking for $369.95. In all of these plans, the data allowance is monthly, so even if you get the one year 3XL plan, you’ll get 3GB each month instead of 3GB for the entirety of the plan.
“This time, Kogan Mobile has cut out the middlemen in a direct deal with Vodafone, which means we can pass on savings to customers, whose service will be reliably delivered by Vodafone,” said Shafer.
“We now have a network ally who is really supporting us, isn’t scared of competitive pricing, and has an interest in seeing Kogan Mobile succeed in the market.”
There is one catch for Kogan Mobile, and that appears to be the connection speed, with Kogan’s mobile service returning as a 3G service only at this time. That means speeds can’t push past the 20Mbps mark, and likely won’t even get past 15, meaning slower download speeds for the moment.
That being said, Vodafone’s CEO — Iñaki Berroeta — did say that 4G would be coming to Kogan Mobile soon.
“We have great confidence in our network and capabilities, following three years of investing $3 billion to improve coverage and faster speeds,” he said. “We are excited to extend our fantastic 3G service to Kogan Mobile customers, and our 4G service from early next year.”
Right now, Kogan’s Mobile service seems like an interesting option for anyone that doesn’t need the speed 4G offers, which could be ideal for seniors who don’t care about high speed YouTube, as well as kids and teens that are busy racking up big mobile bills on data allowances over the 4G networks.
That being said, Kogan faces some stiff competition in the budget sector, especially from the likes of Amaysim, which offers its own budget plans with unlimited talk and text for similar prices, but with access to the Optus 4G network.
Kogan’s service is up now, however, so if you’re a fan of the company and are looking for a new telco, there is now an option there.
